Mail car



June 15, 1943. R, BO D 2,322,111

MAIL CAR Filed Sept. 11, 1942 v,2 Sheets-Sheet 1 CO ,I

IN VEN TOR.

R. BOYD June 15, 1943.

MAIL CAR Filed Sept. 11. 1942 2 sneets sheet 2 w aw llllnx Patented June 15, 1943 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention aims to provide a railway mail car having a chute for discharging a mai1 sack whilst the train is in motion, the chute being so located that the sack will be discharged to the rear of the rearmost wheels of the car and out wardly thereof. It is intended that the car shall be used as the last car of a train, and the invention aims to provide novel means whereby the car can be used only as the last car. A further object of the invention is to provide novel means for supporting the chute and to provide means for holding one or more mail sacks in position to be pushed into the chute.

It is within the province of the disclosure to improve generally and to enhance the utility of devices of that type to which the present invention appertains.

With the above and other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, may be made within the scope of what is claimed,

without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 shows in side elevation, a mail car constructed in accordance with the invention, parts being broken away;

Fig. 2 is a cross section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

The numeral 1 marks a railway mail car, including a body 2 having a rear end wall 3. The rear end wall 3 is imperforate: in any event, it is permanently closed against the passage of a mail sack therethrough as shown in the drawings.

A rear truck 4 forms part of the support for the car body 2 and includes rear wheels 5.

A substantially horizontal, transverse shelf 6, disposed at any desired height from the bottom of the car, has its ends secured to the side walls of the car body 2, the rear edge of the shelf being secured to the rear wall 3.

A transverse, downwardly extended, mail sack chute I discharges downwardly through the bottom of the body 2 and outwardly of the body, to the rear of the rear wheel, and outwardly thereof. The chute I enters the body 2 and has its upper end secured to the shelf 6, the upper end of the chute being open, to receive a mail sack from the shelf, the chute having a downward and backward inclination: to wit, toward the rear wall 3. Since the chute 1 is connected at its upper end to the elevated shelf 6, the chute may be left open without creating a pitfall, and no closure (calling for manipulation) need be provided.

In practical operation, the loaded mail sack is placed on the shelf 6 and pushed into the chute l, the sack being deposited clear of the car wheels. The sack, therefore, will not be drawn under the car wheels, by suction caused by the forward movement of the train, and the sack and its contents will not be ground up.

In order that the object last above mentioned may be consummated with certainty, it is necessary that the car form the last car of a train. With that end in view, the car is supplied at its forward end with a front coupler 8 which is of standard construction. At its rear end, the car is supplied with acoupler 9. The coupler 9 is not of standard construction nor is it located with respect to the rear end of the car as is the forward coupler 8 with respect to the forward end of the car. The coupler 9 may be used with ordinary auxiliary yard devices (not shown) in switching, and in like operations, but the coupler 9 cannot be used in disposing the car in the intermediate portion of a train or with the chute at the head end of the car, if the car is turned endfor-end from the position shown in the drawings. Consequently, there is assurance that the mail sack always will be deposited on the ground to the rear of the rearmost car wheels of the train.

Since the wall 3 is closed against the passage of a mail sack therethrough, it will be impossible for an operator to push the sack out through the rear end of the car, the sack landing on or :between the track rails, to be destroyed or damaged by a following train.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

A railway mail car comprising a body having a rear end wall, and a floor, a rear truck forming part of the support for the body and including a rear wheel, a transverse shelf in the body, at the end wall and spaced vertically above the floor, and a transverse, downwardly extended mail sack chute discharging outwardly of the body, in close relation to said end wall and to the rear of the rear wheel, and outwardly thereof, the chute entering the body and having its upper end secured to the shelf, the upper end of the chute being open to receive a mail sack from the shelf, the rear end wall being permanently closed against the passage of a mail sack therethrough, thereby rendering the chute the sole outlet available to an operator, and obviating the possibility of the sack being thrown out of the car, between the rails of a track.

RANDOLPH BOYD. 

